Leave This House
by Puppetjax
Summary: Teri and I have been through a lot together. But, we've never experienced anything similar to this. She's after us and we're scared for our lives, but we have to push past our fear. Otherwise, the days we have spent in this house will be our last. Still, there is no one I would rather have by my side.
1. Exploring the Forest

I am a student at Elmore Junior High. I have decided to keep this log in case it will be of use to anybody for any reason. In this, I will write about how we ended up here and our experiences thus far. I will continue to update this as our time in this cursed house continues. One other Elmore Junior High student is with me: Teri. We have both struggled to find a way to escape. She is faster than us and she hears everything. It took us a long time to realize that there is no guarantee we will make it out with our lives. But, we have to keep trying as long as she is, because, either we escape, or we die.

The school day was about to end, and all of our classmates were on the edges of their seats. Despite the fact that the school day always feels like it will never end, it always eventually does. Teri and I aren't in the same class, so we always struggle to shove past all of the other students crowding the halls. We eventually managed to meet up just outside the exit of the school.

"What took you so long?" Teri asked in a teasing manner.

I laughed it off. Teri was obviously much better than I was at squeezing through the tight spaces in the halls.

"Alright. Are you ready?" I asked.

She nodded as she began to show me the way to her home. Today was the day we planned an after-school visit to each other. To us, this was a way of renewing our friendship bond. Toward the beginning of the school year, we hardly knew each other; we were just random people wandering through the same hall from time to time. But as the year progressed, we began to get acquainted with one another, and we are now very good friends.

Whenever we visit each other, we don't usually do more than just sit down and catch up. We usually just talk to each other about our lives, gossip a little, and sometimes take walks around the neighborhood if we're in the mood. On the weekends, we would sometimes do more, though. We would walk around Elmore Mall, watch a movie, or something else like that.

Last Friday, however, we decided to do something we'd never done before. We've come up with some crazy ideas together in the past, but this was by far the weirdest thing we'd ever planned. The idea originated when we were both feeling adventurous during our visit, and the topic of the forest on the outskirts of Elmore was brought up. We came up with the idea of exploring it, and staying the night in it. We laughed at it for a second, as it was only meant as a joke. But then, we thought about it more, and realized that it could actually happen.

I was surprised by the idea, because I actually despise camping. Hiking, geocaching, anything of that nature, I didn't want anything to do with. I just find them...boring. However, I found this idea for an awesome expedition quite appealing. I didn't know if it was the adventure factor, or the fact that I was going with someone I know very well, but it honestly sounded fun.

I was even more surprised, however, by Teri's excitement toward it. She usually clearly expresses her complete distaste for any activity that remotely involves subjecting herself to any sort of uncleanliness or potential biohazard. But, despite my knowledge of her typical interests, she seemed just as excited as I was.

We spent the entirety of that afternoon outlining the details for the trip. This included creating a packing list, and heavily researching the forest to see what we were subjecting ourselves to by entering. By the time I left her house, this trip was definitely happening.

The next step was to beg our parents to let us go. It took about ten minutes to convince mine, which was still a lot faster than I expected. They left me with all of the typical parent-ish warnings, things like "don't wander off on your own, look both ways," and so on.

I don't really know what happened with Teri's parents, but I do know that whatever she did worked, because the very next day, she was on my doorstep.

"Ready to leave?" she asked.

"Yeah, just let me grab something real quick!" I replied, as I ran back into the house.

I stood motionless just out of Teri's vision, thinking about what was about to happen. This trip appeared so fast, I barely had any time to think about it. It was so exciting! I was about to go on an overnight expedition through a mysterious forest with my best friend! Even then, I couldn't believe it was really happening. With light bags on each of our backs, we began our trip toward the edge of town.

It soon became clear that Teri was just as excited about this trip as I was, as she was visibly holding in bursts of emotion. The time it took to walk to the forest was in the range of about half an hour to forty-five minutes. I didn't know if Teri knew this, but nevertheless, I decided to attempt to make the trip go by a little bit faster by breaking the ice a little.

"You know what I found out about the forest?" I asked mysteriously, adding a hint of a humorous tone.

"What!?" she replied, eagerly awaiting my response.

"I heard that five people have went missing in it!" I responded. Despite the seemingly outlandish claim, I wasn't actually making it up. I read about it last night on a website about the forest. Though her reacting facial expression didn't make it clear on whether or not she believed it to be true, it did make it clear to me that I successfully added to the mysterious tone we were trying to achieve.

"So? What did YOU find out about the forest?" I asked in response.

Teri's delightful expression suddenly turned into a somewhat frightened frown that was so powerful, it completely killed my good mood. I could tell that whatever she was about to say would not make me feel any better. She sighed, and began to speak.

"I was browsing on the internet when I came upon a document describing a house in the middle of the forest. It's said to be an old, broken-down two-story house held together with old, gray stucco, rotting wood, and windows so old you can't even see out of them anymore. The house was thought to be abandoned, but there is still one known resident. She is described as a horrible, twisted old woman that only wears a dirty gray gown. She holds a wooden baseball bat stained deep red with blood. Reports say that she kills anyone who she sees near her house, and that if you see it, it's already too late. Some reports have also said that she gives you five days to live, and after that, there is no escape from your own death."

We felt our souls drop deep into a dark pit as the atmosphere suddenly shifted to a greatly undesirable feeling. Everything around us halted as the ambiance transformed into nothing but a somber, eerie silence.

We both burst out laughing. My lungs were under such enormous strain; I struggled to form a sentence. "Man, where did you find that document?" I asked.

Teri, who also seemed to be in the same situation as me, responded, "Some fake police website. It looked like it was made with Windows Vista!"

We laughed even harder. "Nice creepypasta! What thirty-year-old fat dude living in his parents' basement wrote that?" I joked.

It took a while, but we eventually calmed down. After that story passed, we struck up more conversations while we walked that kept us entertained. We played 20 Questions, discussed what the forest was going to be like, and so on. Overall, they helped to distract us from the long walk.

After a bit less than an hour after we left our houses, we came across the end of the pavement, which immediately led out into the forest. The sun had just set, but it still lit up the skies just enough for us to see. The ground ahead was pretty flat, with no visible hills or large obstacles that could pose a threat to us if wandering through darkness. It was littered with leaves, pine cones, and rocks, some large and some small.

The trees were intimidatingly tall, and they varied in thickness and color. They weren't very spread out; they appeared to be about ten feet apart from each other. Overall, the forest gave us each mixed feelings. However, I believed we were both a little shocked, maybe even a little frightened, at the sheer size of everything around us.

We stared upward into the maze of trees and dead branches with feelings of thrill and excitement. We looked back at each other, and one look at each other's faces indicated that we both really wanted to enter. But, I was feeling a little tired after the long walk, so I suggested we sit first. We spotted a log just before the very apparent edge of the forest, and we sat down. We each unequipped our bags and reached for our water bottles. I also unpacked my compass I brought to help us find our way.

About five minutes had passed while we rested up and got rehydrated. Teri placed her bottle back into a pocket on her bag and looked at me. "So, are you ready to do this?" she asked.

I wasn't prepared for that question. I had honestly forgotten that we were really going in there. My palms suddenly became sweaty as I reevaluated what I was going to do. But no; I would not give in to my feelings of cowardice. I was going to explore...no...I was going to conquer this forest with my friend, Teri. I clenched my fists, took a deep breath, and stood up. I looked directly back at her.

"Definitely." I said. She was really glad I replied with that.

"Then let's go." She said as she confidently began to venture into the forest. I happily followed behind her, compass in hand.

The next few hours contained some of the most fun I've ever had in my entire life. The sun had completely set shortly after entering, so we took out our flashlights. We happily continued in the new creepy environment we had. The dark forest looked like it came straight out of a horror movie, but we loved it so much. Crickets were chirping and owls were hooting, but other than that, there were no signs of other animals.

We ran around the area, playing games, exploring to our heart's content. And, we never grew tired, not even once. At one point we came across an old red pick-up truck surrounded by several shattered beer bottles. The headlights were broken and the windows were gone. It was leaning to one side, as there were no tires on that half. We hurried to check it out. We found a rusty old key inside, which we inserted into the ignition slot. To our surprise, the truck shook and sputtered, despite it looking like it's been here for years.

We also found a chainlink fence topped with barbed wire, which also looked very old. There was a large black sign which read, "Keep Out" in yellow letters. We, of course, had to cross it. The fence ended up being so weak, we could push it over with our bare hands. We walked over it to the other side, which did scare us a little.

I looked at my wristwatch, which read 11:35. I looked around and noticed that we were standing in the middle of a small clearing. I thought it would be a good place to stop for the night. I hated to be the killer of fun, but we could always have more the next morning. Besides, this didn't mean our night was over; we were just settling down.

I made the suggestion to Teri, who was surprisingly open to the idea. We set our bags on the floor and we each began to unpack our small tents. We found it difficult to set them up and hold our flashlights at the same time, which gave us the idea of a campfire. We had both researched the forest prior to the trip, so we knew that fires were permitted.

Teri finished her tent fairly quickly, whereas I had a bit more trouble. So, after she finished hers, she went to help me. After we were both done, we set our bags inside of them.

"Alright, I'm going out to collect some wood." said Teri as she started to walk away from the campsite.

"Hey, let me join you! My parents said to not go off alone, you know." I said happily. She smiled and gestured me over. So, we grabbed our flashlights, and headed off to find some firewood.

Before we went, however, I said, "Wait, I have an idea."

"What is it?" she responded. I ran back to our campsite and laid my flashlight in the center, which brightly illuminated our space.

"There. Now we'll have an easier time finding our way back."

"Ah, good thinking."

We continued to walk around together, collecting as many dry sticks as we could. I had both of my arms decently full of sticks, but Teri could only hold so many, because she was holding the flashlight, too. Even though we couldn't see the campsite anymore, we made sure we still knew how to get back to it.

We had been walking for about five minutes in the same direction.

"So, how much wood did you find so far?" I asked. Teri looked down at her arm for a second, then back up.

"Well, I found..." She stopped in the middle of her sentence. She had also suddenly stopped walking. I looked at her confused, and her face looked like she had just witnessed a murder. Her mouth was open wide, and her eyes were the same. She was looking up at something, and no matter how much I waved my hand in front of her, she just, stared. She looked petrified.

I finally followed her eyes to what she was looking at, and what I found made my heart drop directly into my stomach.

It was an old, broken-down two-story house.

It was made up of gray stucco, wood, and scratched and stained windows. I began to tremble as I, too felt what it looked like Teri was feeling. I felt my soul leave my body that moment. I dropped all of the sticks I was holding.

"Let's get out of here," I said softly. We both ran the other direction back to our campsite.

"I thought you said that document was fake!" I said panting.

"It was! At least, I thought it was! I still think it is, it's probably just a coincidence! But still, I don't want to be near that thing any longer!" replied Teri.

A few seconds later, a light on the ground began to come into view. I was relieved to see it so much. I arrived back at the campsite and I stopped running. I put my hands on my knees and tried to catch my breath.

"Wow, that was pretty scary!" I laughed. I didn't hear a reply. "Right, Teri?" I asked in response. I looked around and found that Teri wasn't following me. She was nowhere to be seen.

I began to get scared again. "Teri!?" I called. Still no reply. I tried a couple more times until I got really freaked out. I was feeling exactly what I was feeling earlier, only a hundred times worse. Every alarm was going off in my head. "Alright, you got me!" I said shakily, in hopes of having her come out of wherever she was hiding. But to my dismay, absolutely nothing happened.

I was shaking so much, I struggled to grab the flashlight on the ground. When I eventually did, I began to walk back in the direction we ran from, in order to find my missing friend. I could barely keep the light steady. The fear was almost painful; I just wanted it to stop so badly.

I searched along the path we took for about a minute when I heard a twig snap behind me. I almost jumped out of my skin. I quickly jolted my shoulders around 180 degrees to see what made that sound. I moved the light around behind me a little to see if someone was there.

"Teri? Is that you?" I shouted. Even after a good minute, there was still no response. I turned back around and continued walking, completely anxious.

What happened next I don't think I'll ever recover from.

Something grabbed my neck and pulled me. I screamed at the top of my lungs. I was turned around by something and I saw a horrible, twisted old woman in a dirty gray gown. But she was much worse than I ever could've imagined. She had large pale eyes and a dark face. She had a large, gaping mouth complete with large, bloody teeth. She was something straight out of the worst nightmare any human has ever had. Every muscle in my body froze immediately as I stared helplessly into her face. The fear and the helplessness was way too much for my body to handle; it hurt so badly.

That was it. I was going to die. I was on the verge of tears when I felt something hard and painful strike me in the back of the head. I was let go of, and I fell onto the floor. I was in severe pain until my vision went blurry, my eyelids became heavy, and I blacked out.


	2. We're Not Alone

I awoke and opened my eyes. I felt a bit refreshed, almost as if I had just risen from a deep, long sleep. As I took a moment to recall when I went to sleep, I suddenly flashed back to the last thing I remembered. The memory sent chills down my spine. I had just woke up in an unfamiliar location, and I was starting to feel scared again. I had no idea where I was.

I stretched out a little bit, sat up, and looked around. I was in a room that looked ancient and gave me a very haunting vibe. The room was completely dark, with my only source of light being a flashlight resting on a table. It illuminated the room just enough for me to examine the room I was in.

I was sitting on a small, about twin-size wooden bed with red sheets. The wall was tinted red and was peeling, which revealed the white underside, and the room was floored with gray, splintered wooden planks. It was mostly empty, with the only visible objects being the bed I was resting on, a tall dresser with two drawers, the table, a second smaller table with a black and gray patterned vase on top, and a tall, narrow, rusty locker facing the closed dark, wooden door. I had also spotted a strange painting hung next to it.

I jumped and crawled back into the corner with fright when I saw a large silhouette emerge from behind the light. As it inched forward, I noticed a familiar shape begin to develop. The fear only lasted for a brief moment though, because what I saw made all of my muscles relax and my heart jump for joy.

It was Teri, outstretching her hand and carrying a shocked expression on her face.

"Wh... when did you get here?" she stuttered.

"Well, I don't..."

But before I even got to finish my sentence, she leapt at me and squeezed me so tightly, I could barely breathe. We soon both found each other hugging as tightly as we could.

"I thought I lost you!" she said so joyously, her tone immediately lifted my mood.

"I thought I lost you, too." I whispered. I haven't even had time to wonder where Teri went that entire time in the woods. Nevertheless, I was so relieved and excited to have her back again, and I could tell that the feeling was mutual with her.

We eventually released each other and separated ourselves a few inches.

"So, where are we? What is this place?" Teri asked with confusion and panic.

"I don't know, I just woke up. I know as much as you do." I said. After a short pause, I asked her, "So? How did you end up here?"

"I... I don't really know. I was running away from that old house when I was just grabbed by this horrible old woman, just like in the document I told you about, and I just don't remember anything else." she said with a frightened tone. "I woke up on that bed over there. I was here for about thirty minutes when I found you."

"Well then, if you've been awake for that long, why haven't you tried to leave yet?"

"I guess I was just too scared; sad; stressed out. I was just believing you were gone, after all."

I grabbed the flashlight which, upon closer inspection, I discovered that it wasn't in fact mine, and headed towards the door.

"Well then, let's go." I said with determination. Teri happily stood up and came to my side, which surprised me a bit, as I expected a little more reluctance. When I put my hand on the doorknob, I found that it didn't twist at all, but the door became unlatched and creaked open when I pulled on it. "That's odd." I thought. I brushed it off and we both stepped outside together. But what was on the other side, we were not prepared to see.

The rest of the place appeared even more grim and desolate than the room we were in previously. There were absolutely no lights, and the flashlight was the only thing keeping us from being engulfed by darkness. The room we were in was one of five on the second story, which was very small and looked down upon a room in the first floor.

The door of the room we were in was directly in front of the very narrow staircase that appeared to be made of the same material the rest of the floors were made of: very thin, nerve-racking wood planks. Above it hung small paintings, and in the very far top corner of the same wall was a shelf. It had something on it that glimmered when I shined the light at it. "Who would put something on a shelf that high?" I humorously thought. The only thing separating the second story, including the stairs, and the space above the first floor was a tiny, insecure railing made of narrow, flimsy wood beams.

We turned our attention toward another much larger wooden door, presumably the front door, which was in the very center of the room on the first floor. One turn of the flashlight towards it, and we saw not just the door, but something that completely shocked both of us. It was the most locks and mechanisms on a single door I've ever seen. It was certain that no one was ever going to open that door again.

We were dumbfounded. Our original idea only involved hurrying out the front door and not ever looking back, but something had removed our only apparent means of escape. It had seemed as if we were trapped in the house forever. It had seemed as if this is where our lives would end: in an old, dark, murderous building armed with nothing but a flashlight. What would our family think? Our classmates? We weren't ever going to see them again, and they would never see us again. Teri and I looked at each other with somber expressions as I contemplated how I was going to spend our final five days.

To my complete surprise, Teri broke free of her gaze and marched down the stairs we were standing in front of.

"Hey, where are you going?" I asked.

All she said in response was, "Either we escape, or we die trying."

She continued downward. I, not wanting to be left alone, hurried and caught up with her. I found that at the bottom of the stairs, there were two separate archways, one on either side of us, that led to other large main rooms of the house.

"Let's look around. Maybe there's something we can find that can help us." said Teri.

I didn't know what else to do, so I went with her. I found her heading left once she reached the bottom, so I followed her. As I was walking, I suddenly noticed a taut, black wire running from the left edge of the door to the staircase. It was close to the ground, so I did my best to step over it. I didn't think much of it, and I hurried and caught up with Teri in the adjacent room.

We found ourselves in a large empty room, which seemed to be a sort of study room. There was a painting, a small wooden desk with two drawers, a lamp, a small chair, and an empty wardrobe. When we noticed the desk, we both hurried over to check the drawers. I anxiously yanked them both open, and gasped in awe when I discovered something inside.

It was a small key, with a square, green head and a small keychain hole. We looked at each other in excitement, then we both reached for it as fast as we could. After our hands fought over it for a second, Teri eventually won and we both ran back to the front door, being careful we didn't trip over the strange wire. I watched intensely as Teri hurried to try the key in every possible slot it might fit in. There were very little actual keyholes however, due to there being many different types of locks; some without keys. To our disappointment, the key didn't fit into any of the slots, no matter how much we tried them.

We walked away from the front door in the same mood we were in earlier. I held onto the key, just in case we eventually encountered the object with the correct keyhole. We went past the room we found the key in, and we continued to explore and walked into another adjacent room.

This room was larger and had more furniture in it. There was a small shelf that held up a very old-fashioned TV. We could also see a dining area at the other end, complete with another painting, a large table, a second smaller one, chairs, a lamp, and another empty wardrobe. But, behind the table, we spotted something that would once again give us a little bit of hope.

It was a door, and it looked like it lead outside. We ran to it and I attempted to open it. Like before, the knob didn't twist, but is time, it didn't open either; it was locked. We weren't too disappointed this time, however. We turned away and we kept walking down the corridor of rooms.

Connected to the dining area was a kitchen, giving us further confirmation that we were in a house of some sort. Per usual, the decorations, the structure, and the appliances looked like they haven't been touched since the 1800's. It was a small kitchen, with only enough room for a few cabinets, a main countertop with a sink and a microwave, and an island counter.

We, of course, began to search the place up and down. I looked under structures and behind decorations, and Teri searched in cabinets. During my search, I found something that made my skin crawl: etched onto the island countertop were the words, "FIVE DAYS."

"Hey, look what I found!" I suddenly heard.

I turned my attention to Teri, and she showed me what she found: a small piece of stained, yellow paper. Confused, I approached her and looked at the slip. I found that the paper had a short string of numbers on it written in black permanent ink; it was a code.

We grew excited once again and we turned to go back the way we came, when we suddenly discovered something. We found that there was an archway that led straight back to the room with the front door; the rooms we had explored made one large loop back to the front room. As we approached the door once again, we began to look for anything that might accept a code.

"Look!" I shouted, pointing to a padlock hanging from the top of the door. We found that it had a number pad on it, which I was glad about. I kept our previous luck with this door in mind as I nervously watched Teri carefully input the string of numbers into the pad. Despite my expectations, the padlock unfastened itself right after Teri had finished.

We were both in awe. What if it was possible to escape this house after all? Would all of the other locks be as simple as this? There was no doubt that it gave us hope and a driving motivation to keep going. We still had a lot of house to explore.

We headed back to the kitchen to continue searching, due to the fact that we stopped midway when Teri found the code. We once again began to check inside cabinets we haven't looked in yet.

Then, I noticed a tall, blue cabinet standing upright in the corner of the kitchen floor. I opened it and discovered that it was empty, except for a small cardboard container labeled "BIRDSEED." There was a small area of the box that was transparent, allowing me to see that it was full of seeds. It didn't seem important, so I ignored it for the time being and continued elsewhere. But, at least I knew where to look in case I ever needed birdseed.

I finally came across another object in a cabinet. It was made of wood, and it seemed to be a handle of some sort. But, the thought came across that it, perhaps, could be some sort of tool. I bent over to pick it up, but I realized that I was still holding the key from earlier. I tossed it behind me onto the floor, which caused a large clacking sound: a noise much louder than I expected.

Teri had also found luck in finding objects, which I found out by hearing the sound of her opening the microwave: a loud electrical zapping sound, which startled us both. I saw her drop the slip of paper with the code in exchange for the removal of the object inside. But when she revealed what it was, we were both utterly puzzled as to what it could possibly be.

It was a small wooden square with several miscellaneous metal pieces attached to each side. On one face, four small square rods were attached in each corner, sticking out about an inch. On the other face, there was a small metal loop, as in for holding or hanging. We marveled at how such a simple and mundane object could cause such confusion. As we continued to stare at it, we began to hear a noise.

We both instantly froze and silenced. Footsteps were drawing nearer, and they were fast ones. It sounded like someone was running toward us. Adrenaline immediately began running through our veins as we panicked and frantically began looking for somewhere to hide. Without even thinking, we ran back into the dining area and crouched just behind the wall separating the two rooms.

We were both panting heavily, which I worried was going to give us away. However, we were both out of breath, and any attempt at stopping was unsuccessful. We listened as the footsteps grew louder and louder. Teri and I squished ourselves into the corner of the wall as we heard them get closer. They were approaching rapidly, and they began to feel as if they were right in my ear.

Right when I thought my life was over, the footsteps were suddenly silenced. After a few seconds, at first there was confusion, but then there was relief, and I felt our breathing ease up. I was still puzzled, though. I was going to see what was on the other side of that doorway.

"I'm going to check it out." I whispered very quietly. Teri disliked that idea immensely, which she showed by grabbing my arm and pulling me back.

"What!? No! What if someone's back there?" she whispered back.

"It'll be okay." I insisted. I removed her grip from me and began to crawl away from her. I silently scooted my knees along the floorboards until I got close enough to peer inside the entryway that lead to the kitchen. My view of the room gradually began to increase as I slowly moved my head from behind the wall.

Everything seemed normal. But, as I began to look upwards, I spotted her. Looming directly over me, two inches away from my nose, was the horrible old woman. I inhaled to scream, but I suddenly found Teri's hand pressing tightly over my mouth, preventing my outburst that otherwise would have certainly been fatal. Unbeknownst to me, Teri had followed me from the corner to the entryway. The woman wasn't looking at us, but was rather shaking her head from side to side, as if she were looking for something. I immediately retracted my head and pressed my back up against the wall once again.

The next few seconds were nothing but complete silence as we sat motionless, trapped in the corner of the dining room. But after a while, the footsteps started up again, but this time in the opposite direction. We looked at each other with joy.

Then, I heard something that ended the moment. The woman spake. Her voice was shrill and raspy, and it sent chills down our spines.

"Where are you?"

It was very disturbing, to say the least. One glance back into the kitchen allowed me to see the tail end of the woman's gown dragging on the ground out the other way. I was relieved. We both stood up and I was about to walk back into the kitchen when I suddenly heard one last sound: a heavy, metallic thud, coming from where the woman had gone to. Afterwards, I listened to the footsteps slowly fade as they got further and further away. We glanced back at each other, then we cautiously stepped back into the kitchen.

"It looks like we're not alone." I said.

"Yeah. If we want to try to get out of here, we need to lay low and be really quiet." she said. A concerned expression suddenly appeared on her face as she turned toward me. "You do still want to try to get out of here, right?" she asked softly.

I pondered the simple question way more than I should have. I thought about all of the new risks that had been suddenly revealed to us. What would happen if we were caught? What if there wasn't even a way to escape? I put all of these questions aside. Even if there was only a chance we could make it out of here with our lives, there was too much on the line for me to just sit down and say no. My family, my friends, my school; I would never see them again. And Teri; she needed me, and I needed her. I looked back at her and answered.

"Either we escape, or we die trying."


End file.
